Somebody once said that they were afraid that when they got to heaven they would find out that eating chocolate was actually a GOOD thing!! Well my friends, I am here to tell you we can actually have heaven on earth, because food scientists have discovered that chocolate can be good for you!!
According to research, chocolate can provide natural health-promoting substances called flavonoids. Flavonoids help prevent heart disease and cancer.
The flavonoids in chocolate are called flavanols and procyanidins. These two compounds come from the flavonoid “family” that includes resveratrol, found in grape juice, and EGCG, found in green tea. When people consume these substances in chocolate and cocoa, the antioxidant status of their blood increases. This rise in antioxidant levels helps protect us from damage to the heart and blood vessels, while it also guards our DNA from damage that can lead to cancer.
In addition, the flavanols and procyanidins in chocolate improve the function and flow of blood vessels and help control inflammation. The antioxidants in chocolate have generated a lot of interest because studies show that these compounds are more powerful antioxidants than EGCG in tea, which is a strong antioxidant.
The darker the chocolate product (meaning that the cocoa content is higher), the higher the antioxidant flavonoid content is. For example, dark chocolate is more concentrated in cocoa content so it is higher in flavonoids than milk chocolate. White chocolate has no cocoa content.
So now my dear friends, you can snicker at your skeptical friends as you indulge in your dark chocolate Hershey bar!!
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